The 5 Summer Movies WSJ’s Film Critic Thinks You Should See

It is well over halfway through summer-movie season, and it’s shaping up to be a rough one at the American box office. Revenue is down more than 20 percent compared to last summer, and Hollywood is facing its worst slump in eight years. However, all is not lost for moviegoers as July turns into August. Here are Wall Street Journal movie critic Joe Morgenstern‘s five favorite movies of the summer, so far:

Morgenstern calls the latest ‘Apes’ movie “more surprising” than its predecessor since it’s “equally smart” and “even more powerful as an action piece.” Some of it may seem silly in the trailer, he says, “but it doesn’t feel silly in the theater…This is more than just an ape movie.”

“The true—and universal—concerns of this blissfully funny film are living life, pushing limits, making a mark, discovering love,” says Morgenstern. ‘We Are the Best!’ “is little only in physical and financial scale.”